Re: Nose art on US warplanes
From: David Wilma (davew50789_at_aol.comREMOVE.retro.com)
Date: 10/25/04
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To: <sci-military-moderated@moderators.isc.org> Date: 25 Oct 2004 14:02:00 GMT
>Q1) The US Army Air Corp (the US didn't have an Air Force during WW2)
Proper name of the service was U.S. Army Air Forces. The branch of the Army was
the Air Corps.
>a lot of their planes with nose art. But it didn't seem like the US
>Naval aviation planes had as much.
Nose art was a function of the sense of possession that air crews and ground
crews had for their aircraft, command policy, and the room available. Command
policy was the biggest factor.
In many units, crews did not fly the same airplanes every day. In the 8th Air
Force in England, two or three air crews of ten men each used the same
airplane, so they had a lot to say about nose art.
In the Pacific, B-29 crews followed the 8th Air Force example and liberally
decorated aircraft, but a Congressional delegation became offended and nose art
was banned by the command, much to the annoyance of the air and ground crews.
The famous Bock's Car and Enola Gay only had names and no artwork.
>Nowadays, you don't see any nose art on US military planes
Again, a function of command and the fact that no single pilot/crew gets to fly
the same plane every day. The sense of possession is just not the same.
David Wilma
www.HistoryLink.org
The online encyclopedia of Washington state history.
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